Deep in the Heart of..Tuscany

We’re writing now from the heart of Tuscany, and it’s been a challenging – okay, and interesting – couple of days. I keep repeating my good – and well-travelled – friend Susan’s words, like a mantra: don’t expect travelling to be fun every minute.

We left Cinque Terre on Saturday morning, after Frank had spent 34 hours in bed. He was still a bit shaky and sweaty, but we made our way to Pisa by train. I almost hate to admit it, but the Leaning Tower was thrilling. I’m sure every tourist says this, but: it REALLY leans! Rennell, we thought of you as a teenager, driving by it with well-meaning Germans who thought it was “too touristy” to merit a stop.

Shortly after I descended from the Tower (Frank, still feeling the afore-mentioned symptoms, wisely stayed on terra firma), I started feeling sick. Getting to the airport and picking up our rental car took FOREVER (or at least 2 hours) by which time I had made a spectacle of myself, vomiting on one of the main walkways into the airport. Luckily, my symptoms were a tiny fraction of Frank’s – I think that was because of the vaccine I took in February before going to Mexico. I felt pretty much recovered by this (Sunday) morning.

I have no idea how we managed to get to our destination: we had a crappy map and I, as navigator, was somewhat lacking in precision, due to my preoccupation with my digestive tract. We had only GPS 1.0 (Global Positioning SUN) to tell us which direction we were going. Miraculously, we eventually made it out of Pisa and found our way to Volterra, where we are staying.

Once again, this place looked especially good given the obstacles to getting here! But really, it is a gorgeous B and B/vineyard, and the Tuscan countryside is breathtaking. We both feel incredibly fortunate to be able to stay in a place like this.

Today, we explored a nearby, Mediaeval town, San Gimignano. 14 of 72 towers still stand within the town’s walls, built by wealthy and feuding merchant families and dating back to the 900’s. If it weren’t for the hordes of filthy tourists packed into the narrow streets, it would have been utterly charming! Even so, if you try hard, you can imagine what life was like there 1100 years ago.

Volterra means land of the clouds, because it’s up high on a hill and is often socked in. The skies opened…again…this afternoon. We tried to explore Volterra but came back to the B and B, defeated by the sheets of rain and needing a change of clothes. We almost cancelled our dinner reservations, but drove back into town. Here’s what we ate: ricotta and spinach gnocchi with truffles (first time for truffles); stuffed pigeon (me; first time) and wild boar (Frank; he got to keep the plate). We figured it was okay to have a nice dinner given how much we’ve SAVED on food the last couple of days by being sick…

So…not all peaches and cream, especially because we’ve been missing our kids and feeling very far away from them the last couple of days. But still, quite an adventure we won’t forget.

All our best wishes,

Wendy and Frank